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PSY 323:Cognition Chapter 8: Everyday Memory & Memory Errors

PSY 323:Cognition Chapter 8: Everyday Memory & Memory Errors

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Page 1: PSY 323:Cognition Chapter 8: Everyday Memory & Memory Errors

PSY 323:Cognition

Chapter 8: Everyday Memory & Memory Errors

Page 2: PSY 323:Cognition Chapter 8: Everyday Memory & Memory Errors

Autobiographical Memory (AM)

Memory over the life spanRecollected events that belong to a person’s pastEpisodic memory for events from our life plus personal semantic memories of facts about our livesMultidimensionalSpatial, emotional, and sensory componentsVisual experience often plays a significant role in forming and retrieving AM

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Autobiographical Memory

Cabeza et al. (2004)

ProcedureCompared brain activation caused by either autobiographical memory or laboratory memoryParticipants viewed pictures of Duke UniversityPhotographs they took (A-photos)Photographs taken by someone else (L-photos)

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Autobiographical Memory

ResultsBoth types of photos activated brain structures associated with

Episodic memory Processing scenes

Photographs participants took also activated brain structures associated with

PROCESSING INFO ABOUT THE SELF Memory for visual space Mental time travel memory

Cabeza et al. (2004)

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Areas in the parahippocampal gyrus that were activated by the A-photos and the L-photos: Activation was much greater for the A-photos.

Parietal cortex showing similar areas activated by both the A-photos and the L-photos during the memory test.

Cabeza et al. (2004)

Autobiographical Memory

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Problems with testing AM…

LimitationsUnlike lists of words, autobiographical memory is hard to studyAll self reportsHard to check on the reliability of the responsesThe diary approach and the cue word approach may be useful, but have their limitations

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Memory Over the Lifespan

Conway (1996)Reminiscence Bump When participants over the age of 40

are surveyed about life events they show enhanced memory for adolescence and young adulthood

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People in this study tended to remember more that happened around their 20’s.

Why?

Memory Over the Lifespan

Schrauf & Rubin (1998)

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Why do we have the reminiscence bump?

Some explanations

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Reminiscence Bump

Self-image hypothesisMemory is enhanced for events that occur as a person’s self-image or life identity is being formedPeople assume identities during adolescence and young adulthood

Rathbone et al. (2008)

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Reminiscence Bump

Cognitive HypothesisEncoding is better during periods of rapid change that are followed by stability

See next slide for study that tested this

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Autobiographical memories of immigrants

Those emigrated at age 20-24

Those emigrated at age 34-35

Memory Over the LifespanSchrauf & Rubin (1998)

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Memory Over the Lifespan

Cultural Life-Script HypothesisEach person has:A personal life storyAn understanding of culturally expected events (cultural life script)Personal events are easier to recall when they fit the cultural life scriptMany important events occur during reminiscent bump time frame

Berntsen & Rubin (2004)

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Memory for Emotional Stimuli

Emotional events remembered more easily and vividlyThis feeling that emotionally charged events are easier to remember has been confirmed by laboratory research

Enhances consolidation processRecall gets better over timeKey structure: amygdalaBran scans provide evidence for this

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LaBar & Phelps (1998)ProcedureRead a list of 40 words (20 arousing; 20 neutral)Tested ability to immediately recall arousing words and neutral wordsTested again after one hour delayResultsSignificant differences were found for both tests

Memory & Emotion

See next slide

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LaBar & Phelps (1998)ResultsNearly identical for both tests

Memory & Emotion

Results for immediate recall test

Page 17: PSY 323:Cognition Chapter 8: Everyday Memory & Memory Errors

Dolcos et al. (2005)ProcedureTested ability to recall emotional and neutral pictures a year after initial presentationResults Amygdala activity was higher for the

emotional pictures Emotional pictures more easily recognized in

recall test

Memory & Emotion

See next slide

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Dolcos et al. (2005)

Memory & Emotion

Results

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Flashbulb Memories

Brown & Kulick (1977)Proposed idea that we tend to remember important, shocking, and stunning events more vividly like a mental photographyMemory for the circumstances surrounding how a person heard about the event

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Flashbulb Memories

Brown & Kulick (1977)Proposed idea that we tend to remember important, shocking, and stunning events more vividly like a mental photographyMemory for the circumstances surrounding how a person heard about the event

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Neisser & Harsch (1992)

ProcedureRepeated recall experiment of special event (Challenger Explosion which occurred Jan 28, 1986)

Are flashbulb memories really accurate?

Liftoff at 11:39 EST Explosion at 11:40 EST

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Neisser & Harsch (1992)

ProcedureParticipants recalled the event repeatedly at different times after the event3 days later, 10 months later, 5 years laterTested the consistence of their recall

ResultsRight after the explosion, 21% of the participants indicated that they had first heard about it on TV2 1/2 years later, 45% of the participants reported that they had first heard about it on TV

InterpretationFlashbulb memories decay just like regular memories

Are flashbulb memories really accurate?

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Talarico & Rubin (2003) ProcedureCollege students asked a number of questions on September 12, 2001Some of these questions were about the terrorist attacksOthers were similar questions about an everyday event in the person’s life that occurred in the days just preceding the attacksAfter picking the everyday event, the participant created a two- or three-word description that could serve as a cue for that event in the futureSome participants were retested 1 week later, some 6 weeks later, and some 32 weeks later

Are flashbulb memories really accurate?

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Are flashbulb memories really accurate?

Talarico & Rubin (2003)

Results

InterpretationoIn reality, no differences between Flashbulb Memories and regular memories appear to exist; however, we have a perception that they are very different

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Flashbulb Memories

Narrative Rehearsal HypothesisRepeated viewing/hearing of event after initial exposure can potentially impact memoryWatching news coverage, discussing the event with others, etc.Could introduce errors in own memory

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The Constructive Nature of Memory

Bartlett (1932)ProcedureParticipants read a tale “War of the Ghosts” and then re-told it several times Retellings were spaced out at increasing longer intervals (repeated reproduction paradigm)Researchers monitored progressive changes in what participants remembered about the story

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The Constructive Nature of MemoryResultsOmissions

Poor recall for many of the details (specific names, or events)

Minor events were omitted (recall for main plot and sequence of events was not too bad)

Shorter than the originalNormailizations

Tendency to add and alter the stories to make them more conventional or reasonable (top-down processing)

InterpretationMemories are not accurate records of what happened but construction of what might have happened

Bartlett (1932)

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Source Monitoring

The process of determining the origins of our memoriesSource Monitoring Error is fairly common

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SOURCE MONITORING: BECOMING “FAMOUS OVERNIGHT

Jacoby (1988)Procedure•Participants task: study faces of famous and unknown people

•Later tested: to see if they recognized studied faces and asked to judge their “fame”

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SOURCE MONITORING: BECOMING “FAMOUS OVERNIGHT

Jacoby (1988)

Procedure & Results

Interpretation•When stimuli is familiar it is sometimes difficult to determine its source

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Making Inferences

Pragmatic inferenceWe make inferences based on what we already knowLeads us to expect something that is not explicitly stated

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Making inferences

Arkes & Freedman (1984)ProcedureResearchers divided participants into two groups: those who had knowledge of rules of baseball and those who did notRead the following story to participants:

In a baseball game, the score is tied 1 to 1. The home team has runners on first and third, with one out. A ground ball is hit to the shortstop. The shortstop throws to second base, attempting a double play. The runner who is at third scores, so it is now 2-1 in favor of the home team.

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Making inferences

Arkes & Freedman (1984)After a short delay, participants were asked to indicate whether the following sentence was part of the story:

“The batter was safe at first.”Results

Participants who knew the rules of baseball were more likely to remember the story incorrectly

Interpretation Knowledge caused an incorrect inference to be made

about the story that was presented to them

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Source Amnesia

Remembering something but attributing it to the wrong source

We may recognize someone but have no idea where we saw that person

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Scripts & Schemas

ScriptOur conception of the sequence of events that usually occur during a specific experienceSchemaA stored framework or body of knowledge about some topic

These concepts explain adjustments and additions when re-telling the stories; why when we encounter new material, we try to relate it into existing schemas

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Scripts & Schemas

Brewer & Treyens (1981)

ProcedureUsed naturalistic setting: had participants enter an office

In this office were:Schema-consistent objects (e.g. a desk, calendar,

and eraser)Schema-inconsistent objects (e.g. a skull, a toy

top) Missing from this office were some schema-

consistent objects (e.g. books)

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Scripts & Schemas

Brewer & Treyens (1981)

ProcedureLater, participants were surprised with a test asking them to:

First, recall all the objects they could remember

Second, recognize items actually in the office from those that were not

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Scripts & Schemas

ResultsBooks and filing cabinets were recalled but were not present in the room

Office used by Brewer & Treyens (1981)

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Scripts & Schemas

ResultsParticipants recalled more schema-consistent than schema-inconsistent items

True for both items that were present and items that weren’t

Objects that weren’t present in the room but were recognized with high confidence were uniformly schema-consistent

Recalled items were most likely to be objects consistent with the schema (e.g., typewriter)

Interpretation Schemas lead to errors in memory Schemas are often used as a retrieval mechanism to

facilitate recallBrewer & Treyens (1981)

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The Misinformation Effect

After exposure to subtle misinformation, many people tend to misremember Can change how a witness describes the

event at a later date This misleading information after a person

witnesses an event is referred to as misleading postevent information (MPI)

As memory fades with time, the injection of misinformation becomes easier

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The Misinformation Effect

Loftus & Palmer (1974)Experiment 1ProcedureCars were driving on what appeared to be a one-lane highwaySubjects saw the same film of a car accidentLater, different subjects were asked: “How fast were the cars going when they…”

smashed collided bumped contacted hit

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The Misinformation Effect

Experiment 1ResultsSubjects estimates of speed varied with the verb they got in the question

Subjects who got the stronger verb (smashed) gave higher estimates of speed

Elizabeth Loftus

Loftus & Palmer (1974)

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Experiment 2This time the accident took place at an intersection and cars were going considerably slower.The key question:

◦Group 1: "About how fast (MPH) were the cars going when they hit each other?◦Group 2: "About how fast (MPH) were the cars going when they smashed into each other?◦Group 3: Participants in this control group were not interrogated about vehicular speed

 

The Misinformation Effect

Loftus & Palmer (1974)

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Experiment 2One week later

Without viewing the film again subjects were asked several questions

Embedded randomly in a series of questions is the critical question: "Did you see any broken glass?"

 

The Misinformation Effect

Loftus & Palmer (1974)

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Loftus & Palmer (1974)

A week after the film: “Did you see the broken glass?” Note: No glass was in the film

32% in the “smashed” group said YES Compared to 14% of the “hit” group

The likelihood of saying YES increased as the estimates of speed increased Remembering broken glass was more common for

participants who had seen “smashed”

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Possible Conclusions

How accurate is Eyewitness Testimony? A lot is involved here

Perception – can only remember what is perceivedThis depends on one’s attention level at the timeAlso, may depend on top-down processing

Memory Trace Replacement HypothesisMPI impairs or replaces original memories

Retroactive interferenceSomething new (MPI) and this might cause

something old to be forgotten

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Errors of Eyewitness Identification

Errors due to AttentionWeapon-focus effect: An eyewitness’s diminished ability to subsequently identify a perpetrator when a weapon was used in a crimeErrors due to FamiliarityJust looking familiar can lead to you being accusedErrors due to SuggestionPost-identification feedback effect leads to confident witnesses

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These are recollections of events or details of an event that did not occur

Hyman, Husband, & Billings (1995) Procedure

Contacted the parents of their adult participants (college students) and asked them to provide descriptions of actual events that happened when the participants were children

The experimenters also created descriptions of false events Deception was used as participants were told that all the

events were supplied by the parents Participants were asked if they recalled the event and if so to

elaborate

Creating False Memories?

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Results 20% of false events were “recalled” and described in some

detail by participants Sometimes it took a follow-up interview for participants to

“remember” the false event Interpretation

Apparently, hearing about the event and then waiting caused the false event to be remembered as being a real event Source monitoring error (source amnesia)

Familiarity Source monitoring error (source amnesia)

Creating False Memories?

Hyman, Husband, & Billings (1995)

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Lindsay, Hagen, Read, Wade, Garry (2004)Partial replication of Hyman, Husband, & Billings (1995)Participants also viewed a photo of when they were in first or second grade

Wade, Garry, Read, & Lindsay (2002)Hot air balloon study

Creating False Memories?

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Credits

Some of the slides in this presentation prepared with the assistance of the following web sites:

www.tamu.edu/.../Ch%208%20Everyday%20Memory.ppt people.auc.ca/brodbeck/3717/episodic.ppt misskanaley.edublogs.org/.../Cognition-Long-Term-Memory-...

courses.csusm.edu/.../Interactions%20in%20LTM%20--%20C...